Remnant - Paperback

by Katie Sweeting (Author)

Kidnapped along with her brother Ledu (Olaudah Equiano) at the tender age of eleven, Olu is dragged across Nigeria, deposited on a slave ship for the Middle Passage, and dropped on a rice plantation in Charles Town, South Carolina in 1753. During the Revolutionary War she attempts to escape. Will she succeed? Will she reunite with any of her family members? Joanna Vassa (daughter of Equiano) is introduced to William Wilberforce and the abolition movement when she is eleven. A biracial orphan, Joanna is raised by her guardian, and while away at boarding school she encounters racist attitudes and struggles to make friends. She seeks information about her Aunt Olu. Will they ever meet? Remnant is a bildungsroman about two young women of color striving to carve out meaningful lives despite monumental obstacles. Will a family separated by slavery ever be reunited?

Author Biography

Katie Sweeting is professor of English at Hudson County Community College. She is the coauthor of The Power of a City at Prayer (2002). In spring 2022 she taught creative writing at Fergusson College in Pune, India as a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar. She has studied and taught about Olaudah Equiano for fifteen years.